


The Last Vampire

by KoboldKing



Category: Original Work
Genre: Apocalypse, Christianity, Gen, Prompt Fic, Vampires, r/writingprompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 04:03:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16803271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoboldKing/pseuds/KoboldKing
Summary: Ancient rules govern the walkers of the night; one of these is that no home can be entered uninvited. One night a vampire attempts to step outside his lair only to meet an invisible wall.





	The Last Vampire

**Author's Note:**

> [Written in response to a writing prompt on reddit two years ago.](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/534hkp/wp_you_are_a_vampire_supernaturally_bound_by_the/)

"Well that's just bloody annoying."

I tried for a minute more, pressing a white hand into the empty doorway while meeting that same invisible resistance. It was as if I were trying to enter a house owned by a uninviting patron; the air itself formed a wall against me. I could not leave my lair.

A shame, too, because I was really looking forward to this night's hunt. True, I looked forward to every hunt, but this was to be so grand. A teenage girl youth group, meeting after hours in an open church! How could any walker of the night turn miss such a treat?

More surly than afraid, I walked back into my living room and reached for an ancient dial phone, turning it to a specific number.

"Lila!" I snapped. "I am having a problem here. I'm going to need you to hunt for me until I get it resolv--"

"Like, um, wait a minute," Lila interrupted, using the modern slang she had to know I despised.

My foot tapped impatiently while I waited. She was quiet--uncharacteristically quiet--while what sounded like a television played unintelligibly in the background.

"Lila, I'm in no mood for your inattention," I began, but she interrupted me once again.

"Drake, turn on the news."

"You know full well I don't partake in this age's vapid-"

"I'm not kidding around, Drake! Turn on the bleeding news!"

Filling up my superfluous lungs just to let out a long sigh, I foraged in my closet for an old television set and struggled to close it in. I muttered to myself as I went, fully aware that every second I spent trying to figure out the plugs on this absurd contraption was a second I _should_ have been spending sucking the life juices out of a young virgin's jugular.

Finally, I managed to get the screen flickering on, revealing a young blonde reporter with too much cleavage talking frantically over the tubes. She wasn't my type, but I was hungry enough that her stressed and frightened expression made my stomach rumble.

_"...we are still waiting for updates from the situation in Israel, but further reports have confirmed a_ second _pillar of light in Mexico City. It is still unclear... hold on, there is now..."_

I frowned, watching the television in confusion. Pillar of light? It was the middle of the night!

_"More pillars are being reported almost all over the world! There is now one appearing in Chicago, U.S., one appearing in Paris, France, in Beijing, China... we are actually getting live broadcasts now from London, U.K. of a pillar in the process of appearing. I repeat, a pillar in the process of appearing!"_

The screen shakily resolved to what I supposed was London, across the Atlantic from me. The camera shook as hundreds of people ran and screamed past it, as sure enough, an enormous beam of light began to manifest out of thin air in the middle of the city. I frowned, squinting at it in puzzlement. Plagues, famines, revolutions, wars... those were all old news to me. But this? This was something else. Something new.

_"I am reporting live from London, where another pillar of light is appearing. It... almost looks like fire. Like hot fire, but none of the buildings it's touching are appearing to be damaged. It's bright, almost too bright to look at, but there doesn't appear to be any heat emanating from it..."_

I watched with a curious gaze, some of the more modern works of speculative fiction that Lila engaged in rushing unbidden into my mind. Could this be the beginning of some invasion by extraterrestrials? Could it be tied to my being unable to leave my home? What was this going to mean for further hunts?

But then, the shaky news camera on the screen resolved closer at the pillar... and a _figure_ became apparent.

A tall human figure, too tall, wreathed in radiant golden armor the consistency as sunlight. Six feathered wings protruded from its back, and six arms bearing swords spread out from its sides with the elegance of a butterfly spreading its wings.

I froze, utterly _afraid_ for the first time in centuries. For the first time _ever_ , I felt the paralyzing fear, the instinctive terror that my prey must have felt when I cornered them and revealed my true nature. What I was gazing at... it was one step higher in the cosmic hierarchy than I.

"...bloody hell."

* * *

I got all of my news from Lila for the next few weeks, too afraid to turn the television on. She explained to me that the many-armed ones had come in peace. They had simply moved through the cities, pointing their swords at the sick and addicted and cleansing them from whatever poisons wracked their bodies. Weapons pointed at them failed. A nuke had apparently been aimed at one city filled with the things, but had harmlessly turned to bread and loaves as it drew near and rained down upon the human population.

Lila, despite coming from the same predatory heritage of myself, didn't seem to be afraid of them. As she spoke of their march across the globe, she spoke of them with awe. Awe and... _wistfulness_ , until I no longer wished to speak to her at all. I turned off the phone and cowered like an animal in my lair.

The curtains I pulled shut. The door I kept locked. Nothing was to intrude upon my home... nothing. Even if I risked starvation by never again stepping out.

The cravings wracked my body, but I didn't dare step out. The lust to hunt plagued me relentlessly, but like a rabbit hiding from a fox I couldn't move an inch. It went on for weeks that felt like eons.

But finally, I heard a knock upon my door, followed by a very... _average_ human voice.

"Hello? Drake?"

I frowned from beneath the table I'd been hiding under, unsure of myself. His voice was, as I described it, _average_. Not commanding. Not particularly charismatic. But unmistakably human... even though he knew my name.

My stomach rumbled. Perhaps this would be my last chance to feed in a long while. I couldn't turn it down. Slowly, shakily, I walked to the door and opened it a crack.

The man also looked very much human... and yet, I couldn't describe a single detail of his face. He was neither black nor white, young nor old, tall nor short, fat nor skinny. He had long hair and short hair at the same time. He had a presence, and faded into the background all at once. Truth be told, I'd be hard-pressed to say with certainty that he was all man and there was nothing about womankind about him. But when he saw my face through the crack of the door, his own split into a wide, warm smile, as if I were the man in the world he most wanted to see.

"Drake," he said, almost _tearing up_ from seeing me. "It's been such a long, long time since I've been with you. How have you been?"

I wasn't sure what to say or do. I wanted to grab him by the arm, yank him inside, and suck the blood out through his throat... and yet somehow, even if my hand would have gone through the doorway, I doubted I could have made myself do it. It was an odd sensation.

The man continued to smile at me for a moment, and during that minute seemed to radiant a sort of power... a presence. Again... it would be hard to describe. But I knew that what I was looking at was no mere human, whatever attributes of one it bore.

I managed to find my voice. "...why am I not dead? Why isn't there a stake in my heart?"

His response was as simple as it was confounding.

"Because I love you."

His words sank deep, but I rejected them, almost feeling anger for the first time in weeks. _"What?"_

"You are... something of a grandson to me. I really have missed you," he insisted, that same warm smile upon his face.

Surely this was a creature of unparalleled power, toying with me as I would a young human. I snarled. "Why have you not already forced your way in here? Why are you playing these games with me?"

He frowned, a look of sadness crossing his face. "I am not playing, Drake. And I cannot force my way to you anymore than you could to me. Much like you, I've always needed to be invited."

I wasn't sure what to make of this. But his smile returned. "Speaking of which... Drake, why don't you step outside? I invite you to my kingdom."

I squinted behind him, noticing for the first time a sunlit grove seemed to have sprouted around my urban house. All the city was gone, replaced by birdsong and a gentle wind rustling through the trees. I couldn't speak for a moment, but managed to sputter "I... I cannot. The sun. It burns..."

He shook his head at me, almost seeming amused. "The sun is my daughter, Drake. She will not burn you if I ask her not to."

I hesitated. "...have you asked her not to?"

Another grin. "The moment I came here."

Somehow I didn't think he meant coming to my house. Slowly, cautiously, I undid the latch on my door and stuck the tip of one shoe out the passage way. There was no resistance, and the man turned and began walking into the forest. I followed him, unsure of what was to come.

As we walked, passing tree after tree, bird after bird, and squirrel after squirrel, I started to smell humans for the first time. Sure enough, as we penetrated deeper into the forest I began to see them, but not as I'd ever seen them before.

Firstly... they were naked. Every one of them. To the oldest man to the newborn infant held tight to his mother's breast. Not a one of them wore even a hint of clothing, but there was no shame or embarrassment evident on any of them. Nor even the deviance or perversion I'd associate with a deep forest orgy; no, I saw a fit young man and a gorgeous young woman, both sitting side by side wearing nothing but their skin, laughing without the slightest hint of lust between them.

There was something confusing about this. Something almost... _wrong_ , about humans that weren't chafing to commit the first sin in sight. Once more, I wasn't sure what to make of it... when I saw a familiar face coming forward to me.

_"Lila?"_

It was her. Short and thin, skin white as snow--which I could clearly see as she wore not so much as a fig leaf. She approached me with a warm smile, bare feet padding without a sound against the grass and flowers, almost skipping in her step.

"Drake!" she exclaimed in delight, wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug. "I wondered if you'd be here! I'm so glad to see you!"

This was not a level of affection I expected from her... from _any_ of the walkers of the night. And what was worse...

"...your smile," I exclaimed, having a hard time believing what was before me. "You... you don't have fangs..."

She smiled still wider, confirming what I saw before me. "Of course not, silly. I don't need them anymore."

Her smile faltered. "Why do you still have them?"

This was too much. I pushed her away, stepping backwards quickly as the strangeness simply became too much. "No... no! I don't accept this! Whatever game you're all playing, end it now!"

The humans looked at me, but only with confusion. No fear. Lila looked at me, but only with confusion. No anger. What was happening?

The man who had brought me here approached me, a sympathetic smile on his lips. "Drake... this is my kingdom. This is what I made the world to be, and I have restored it."

The weight of his words sank into me, and my legs shook underneath me. I nearly collapsed. "Oh... oh god..."

"Yes," replied God.

* * *

We were back at my home. God had decided the vision of the utopian forest was too much for me, and he'd brought me back to a familiar setting. He sat at the other end of the table from me, passing me a glass of red liquid.

"It's wine," he said apologetically. "My blood is all I can provide."

I stared blankly, but began to shake my head again, squeezing my eyes shut. "This is wrong... so wrong..."

"It may seem so," God said, "but I assure you this is how things were to be. My children accepted it surprisingly well, considering. My grandchildren, however..."

"I don't understand," I whispered. " _You..._ you came again. Why haven't we been destroyed? Cast into oblivion?"

"I told you," he replied. There was no accusation or impatience. Only a matter of fact. "You're family. I want you all back by my side. We can all be happy here in my kingdom again, if you only accept the invitation."

I shook violently, mouthing the word "grandchildren."

He seemed to register my confusion, a sad expression settling across his face. "Your father, I am afraid, is dead."

I looked up. "My father died seven centuries ago in England."

God raised one hand, shaking his head as he began to explain. "No, I don't refer to him. He's alive now, actually; you could meet him anytime you like. I refer to... Lucifer."

The name was familiar, of course. But I said nothing.

"He created you," God said softly, "as a perversion of what I made. He didn't want you to know happiness beyond killing and corrupting humankind. He was so opposed to my kingdom, the moment I returned he cast himself into oblivion. I wished to save him too, but he would never have taken my invitation."

"That's a lie," I hissed. "Your coming... you created Hell to torment those who don't align with you!"

"I'm afraid that is the lie," God replied wearily. "Hell doesn't exist save for what souls make for themselves. I desire _all_ to be saved. In the end, almost all of the humans came back to me. All of the animals and the inanimate things. But Lucifer died rather than come home, and his children have yet to be restored to me in full. Only a few have, such as your friend Lila."

"You hate us," I growled, "for our superiority. You'd never allow us free rein to hunt and rule in your kingdom."

"No," he answered. "I would not. But that is a far cry from hating you. You could be quite happy as a human, equal and living in harmony with the rest."

I let out a loud scoff, a cross between a laugh and a cry of outrage. "A human? Become a traitor to my kind? Live with the filth? Live with the _prey?"_

"Lila finds this a preferable life," God said sadly. "The humans are stronger and faster than you know them. They will live forever. They have every bit the richness and joy you have experienced in your time... infinitely more, in fact. She realizes this."

"Then she's rolled in the filth!" I shot back, venom dripping. "And it's clung to her! I won't follow her! I will have the hunt or nothing!"

God looked at me for a long while. Tears brimmed in his eyes, but he said nothing. My frustration mounted.

"Well?" I demanded. "Tell me, how will it be? Destroy me or unleash me! You can't make a wolf a sheep, and you can't make me anything but what I am!"

Slowly, God rose. He put a hand on my shoulder, great sadness apparent in his gaze.

"Drake," he said softly, "the wolf is _not_ what you are. What you really are has been buried... but I _will_ win it back in time."

"You can try," I snarled. God turned and began to walk away. He stopped at the very threshold of my door, turning back to look at me.

"My kingdom will remain out here," he said finally. "The rules of the house are simple. Love me as I have loved you. Love thy neighbor as thyself. The invitation is open. All you must do is accept it."

"Never," I spat. God looked at me with hurt, but passed through the doorway and out of sight.

And so I stood, angry and hateful, gazing out that open door and the garden of delights beyond.

The filth frolic and laugh for eternity out there. I still hear them every day, every night. As eon after eon passes I despise them, and stay within my little lair.

One day, God will relent. He will see I won't give up the hunt. He will give me what I want.

I will have my paradise. I will have the predator's paradise that is my blood right.

I will have it.

I will be released from this Hell... one day...


End file.
